The Second Chance

“I joined the Company of the Unknown to forget. To forget what… I don’t remember. So I guess it must have worked!”

- common joke among the crew of the Second Chance.

The splash of water, the rhythmic clunk of oars, the stir of stagnant vapours. These herald the coming of the Second Chance, a grey-hulled riverboat plying the Styx. The mark of fire, cold, and acid mars her hull, and battered shields are pinned to the rail. Although stable most of the time, every now and again the barge rolls and wallows seemingly without reason, sending water spraying over the rail.

With strokes of its powerful oars, the ship makes it way along the River Styx, passing from Plane to Plane at the whim of the multiverse and the fancy of its crew, a band of amnesiac mercenaries called the Company of the Unknown.

The Chant

There’s a ship where any man can earn his place regardless of race or class or deeds. A place where your past means nothing and where you can find a new life on your own terms. The Company of the Unknown fight for each other and for jink and for causes that catch their eye, and answer to no force that can’t take them by the throat and make them. Each of them knows nothing of their past and doesn’t want to, looking only to the future and their comrades. The Styx is their chosen territory, and each has taken a dip in her waters and completely erased their past.

Nominal chief of both the Company and the Second Chance is an enigmatic khaasta called Knownless, although he’s referred to as ‘steersman’ rather than captain. It’s said that he claimed the barge after somehow dragging himself out of the Styx. Whoever the reptilian basher was before, nowadays he sails the river gathering up berks who want a safe wash in the memory-draining waters. Many of these bodies still travel on his barge, knowing no other life but the Second Chance and their fellow amnesiacs.

Between mercenary contracts, Knownless steers his ship on a random course, singing grim songs of death and adventure that echo out to either bank. Knownless is said to have squirreled away a horde of jink from folks who pay handsomely to be dunked in the Styx (and safely hauled out again), as well as from the Chance’s trade and mercenary work. He’s also said to have heard many secrets and confessions from berks heading over the side, and has as large a collection of regrets, dark deeds, and dire reminiscences as can be found anywhere on the Great Ring. Despite the rumoured knowledge and jink to easily escape the Styx, Knownless seems content to remain.

As well as providing bashers and a place to dry off after a dip, the Second Chance carries cargo and hosts a number of different entertainments. High stakes gambling games are the most common, but they also provide a venue for various other ceremonies, celebrations, and festivals. Seems there’s a certain notoriety that comes from partying on the Styx - a body brave enough to venture aboard might discover Blood War negotiations, a travelling carnival, or Shemeska the Marauder's latest birthday party.

Knownless may be steersman and the public face of the Company of the Unknown, but its said that he shares power with his senior officers, the Boatswain and the Master of Oars. This trio may keep things polite in public but each are said to be plotting to seize control of the vessel when the moment is right. Rumours about all three creatures are rife among those who deal with the ship, but those who sail on her seem entirely uninterested in such things. A body’s history just isn’t important to the Company of the Unknown.

Rumours are also spreading of a tiny sect of balmies aboard the Chance, who believe in forcible baptism in the Styx in order to redeem evil. Called the Sanctifiers, these berks evangelise the benefits of a dip in the river, claiming only her waters can free a body from the burdens and responsibilities of the past. Once a body has emerged from the waters, the Sanctifiers try their hardest to rehabilitate them and convert them to the path of goodness - tossing him back in again if he refuses.

The Dark

Knownless clambered aboard the Second Chance a decade ago, finding her empty except for the skeletal form of the Boatswain, who took his orders but furnished nothing by way of explanations. The captain’s cabin held a few damp and mouldy items, but its log book was in an unidentifiable language and her charts did not depict the Styx. There were goods and supplies indicating the presence of a crew, but the people themselves were gone. Knownless managed to guide the ship to a reed-filled sandbank, where some time later he encountered Sheku stumbling along the bank. Not understanding what the creature was, the amnesiac khaasta helped him aboard and gave him refuge. Before the ‘loth could turn stag on him however, they were attacked by freebooting deserters from another nameless battle of the Blood War.

What began then as a pact of mutual defence has since turned into a permanent alliance. The exiled Yugoloth offered knowledge to the khaasta in exchange for sanctuary and a place to hide from his enemies. Soon lost travellers, refugees, and deserters from the Blood War began to make their way aboard, either paying for passage or signing on as crew. All of the latter have taken a bath in the Styx, Knownless’ only inviolate law.

The Second Chance makes most of its money from cargo; mainly speculative trade but also paid shipments. They take paying passengers too - adventurers, spies, brave merchants, and even the occasional tourist. This puts the ship somewhat in conflict with the marraenoloths, but the presence of Sheku has allowed the Company and Second Chance  to so far avoid their overt wrath (if not more subtle undermining). In return for this 'largesse' however, Knownless has been forced to turn down several lucrative jobs when faced with rival Yugoloth bidders, and this is really starting to torque him off. Even an amnesiac Khaasta can’t stand it when berks get the better of him, and one day soon matters are bound to come to a head.

Knownless (Pl/male khaasta F12/CN)

The Steersman of the Second Chance is an enigma even to himself. There were no clues to his existence when the khaasta first clawed his way out of the Styx, and no one aboard the ship to tell him who he was before. Although his history is unknown, the khaasta falls easily into the role of leader, both on ship and off. He’s also rather cryptic and philosophical for one of his race, which many suspect is due to the fact that he hasn’t met too many of his own folk since he emerged from the Styx. The truth is he's merely a creature defined more by his beliefs than his race, as are many of the Company of the Unknown.

Knownless is a restless creature. He knows he's searching for something, but he doesn’t remember what so just learns everything he can and keeps his swordarm well -practiced. Knownless considers his life aboard the Second Chance to be a test, and believes that when the universe finally finds him worthy he will be rewarded – and the harder the test, the sweeter the prize. He’s obviously a potential recruit for the Minds Eye, who have made several attempts to recruit him, 'though he’s been peery of them so far. The barbarian Ueue Matka has been having some success of late, however, and not all of the crew are thrilled by this development: The Company is wary of external entanglements, and the Sanctifiers are afraid they'll lose the ship to the Minds Eye.

Knownless is joined in his travels by a small band of mercenaries, all without their memories. Whoever they were before, they now wander the Styx looking for a purpose. Although one or two of his men may depart at an given port of call, there always seems to be someone to replace them before long. Most of the warriors have seen few alternatives superior to a life aboard the Chance, and have so dedicate themselves to the ship. Knownless inspires great loyalty in his men; they have a lot in common after all, and don't remember the bad reputation of khaasta.

Sheku the Broken, Master of Oars (male marraenoloth/NE)

The Master of Oars runs the mechanical oar-deck like his own personal kingdom and it’s a kingdom of one - the Master himself. All others who venture there do so at his sufferance and their own risk. Sheku is a reclusive Marraenoloth with a twisted back and gangly limbs – even more skeletal and decrepit-looking than the rest of his race. He’s ill tempered and dangerous to cross, but at least confines himself to the oar deck as firmly as he keeps other folk out of it.

Sheku the Broken is a marraenoloth who’s fallen from favour and suffered the ultimate humiliation for his kind: The destruction of his skiff. On the rare occasions when he bitterly describes the loss, he likens it to a warrior losing his hand, a bard losing his tongue, or a wizard struck by senility. The truth is even worse: Sheku's soul has been ripped asunder and left ragged and torn. The marraenoloth has never spoken of the specific events that lead to his hobbling painfully down the banks of the Styx where Knownless found him. Though he twitches and curses under his breath, he names no names.

Sheku lost more than a mere raft; the conveyance was a part of his soul and a spiritual connection to the River Styx. The Yugoloth can still navigate the foul waters by instinct, but his senses have become dull and painful to use, and from time to time fail him altogether. He also refuses to share his wrecked and wounded soul with his fellow marraenoloths. He can sense when his former brethren are near or plotting against the Second Chance, but that is all. He's more a remnant than a real creature, empty and lonely with only bitterness and revenge to be his brothers now.

Angry and ashamed of his condition, Sheku mainly lurks on the oar deck. Only rarely is he seen above and never off the ship, although he occasionally ventures upstairs to talk with Knownless and drink a bottle or three of strong liquor. The Second Chance is a surrogate for Sheku’s lost raft, and though he loathes life aboard the ship he genuinely works hard to keep her afloat and moving. Over the years, he's managed to develop something similar to the connection he had for his raft, but its only a shadow of his former powers.

The oar deck is Sheku’s personal creation and he brooks no interference with it, although on the steersman’s orders he must tolerate visitors with legitimate business. Under no circumstances however is anyone permitted in the back room. Those who Sheku even suspects of trying to gain entry to this chamber, he murders without pause or mercy and with all the pain a bitter exiled Yugoloth can contrive.

The secret of the back room and the power behind the mechanical oars is a living engine crafted by Sheku’s own hands from yellowed bones and strips of leathery skin. Like the Second Chance itself, the engine is a part of him. It is powered by the pain Sheku feels in his exile, and his festering desire for revenge. While it creaks and groans, and occasionally gasps out something like a death rattle, the engine has never failed to move the oars. Only when his exile is ended and his final revenge at hand will Sheku’s pain be gone and his engine cease to move the oars.

Contrary to common rumour, Sheku has no plans to do away with Knownless. He has no desire to lead the crew or deal with the mundanities of shipboard life, and while not easily manipulated, Knownless’ captaincy turns a decent profit and keeps the exiled Yugoloth safe. Of course he’d be happy to betray the khaasta if a better offer came along, but so far none has. And during the occasional night when the pair share a bottle, he even almost likes the khaasta.

The Boatswain is another rmatter entirely. Uncompromising and powerful, the ship’s undead crewmember shows neither consideration nor respect for Sheku or his territory. It has tried to enter the backroom before and although it failed (Knownless had to prise it and Sheku apart after their brawl almost wrecked the oar deck), the Boatswain still sometimes lurks around the oar deck as if looking for another opportunity. Sheku only holds back from destroying the skeleton because he can sense its connection to the Second Chance. The Yugoloth fears that destroying the Boatswain would harm his surrogate raft and so bides his time until he can be free of them both.

The Boatswain (Pr/male undead human M8/N)

The Chance’s boatswain is an undead humanoid of uncertain race, reduced by an unknown calamity to just mouldy bones and ragged nautical garb. Although unspeaking and generally uncommunicative, the Boatswain patrols the ship tirelessly, endlessly checking the rope and lines and correcting what needs to be done. From time to time, he looms over an inattentive or incompetent crewmember in silent condemnation, and those who continually fail to meet his expectations are strangled and pitched overboard. Those that do their jobs well however, say they feel a sensation of approval from the creature and take comfort in the boatswain’s watchful presence.

The Boatswain is the former captain of the ship, whose flesh was stripped away by a vile storm it encountered while travelling in the Abyss, which also swept off his crew and left the vessel battered and adrift. Knownless suspects something of this, and this is the reason why the khaasta refuses to call himself captain. He also recognises that the Boatswain has a profound connection to the ship and thinks of him as the Chance's soul. This view is shared by the majority of the crew, who have seen the boatswain defend the ship as dedicatedly as any living crewman, and know that he's a skilled wrestler and pugilist who can move to where he's needed faster than even an unarmoured warrior can run.

The one part of his history that the Boatswain can remember is also the only thing that can rouse the him to emotion – and the emotion is rage. The Second Chance only found itself on its fateful voyage to the Abyss because it was contracted and taken there by an infamous mage known and Emerikol the Chaotic. Anyone who looks or acts like the Boatswain’s (actually only vague) impressions of the mage or who mention his name immediately attracts the Boatswain’s wrath.

Bereft of much of his memory and personality, the Boatswain fell into the natural role of Knownless’ aid and servant. It still feels a deep love a travel and for the Second Chance, and although it doesn’t have much by way of human thoughts and motivations, it considers itself captain and in charge of the crew, and carries itself with deportment and dignity.

The Boatswain defers only to Knownless, who mostly just lets him get on with things. The few times that the Boatswain expresses an opinion (usually just pointing a bony finger at an unrolled map or upcoming tributary), Knownless usually goes along with him; both steersman and crew think it unlucky to not follow the skeleton’s ‘orders’. In fact, the Boatswain's instructions are made only in response to what he senses from his ship, and through that connection to the powers of Sheku the marraenoloth. The Boatswain is completely loyal to Knownless, as the khaasta is always respectful and has never steered the Chance wrong in the Boatswain’s opinion – either literally or metaphorically.

The Lay of the Land

The Second Chance is a fat bellied and high drafted sloop with three decks. She has a trio of masts, but her sails are rarely unfurled thanks to the mechanical oars that push her tirelessly through the waters. A sense of age hangs about the Chance and her hull bares the scars of numerous battles, but apart from a tendency to roll a bit in rough waters, she is still sound. 'Second Chance' is the name that the current crew gave her; the original name plaque is missing. The crew claim that even their ship has given its name and history to the Styx.

The Company of the Unknown live together in four communal cabins, while Knownless has a small stateroom at the stern, near the stores and a couple of guest rooms. The ship’s locker includes everything to be expected on a fighting ship, as well as spare waterproofs for those on deck and a rope and harness for lowering berks into the Styx. A deep square hold houses whatever cargo the ship is carrying (goods or passengers), and brave (or jinkless) travellers can even camp out on deck. When a party is in progress, guests mostly use the hold, but there’s also the parts of a light wooden pavilion aboard, which can be assembled to cover the deck when necessary.

The Second Chance is propelled by a bank of oars that move in perfect mechanised time. No crew hauls on them; they are all connected to a single frame and moved by two oily pistons, which pump in and out of a securely locked chamber at the rear of the ship. The source of their motive power is a matter of some debate among both visitors and crew, but no one ventures down onto the oar deck if they can help it. Only the Shaku the Broken knows for sure what lies beyond the locked door at the back of the oar deck. Rumours include everything from a spelljamming helm to a captive titan to an engine constructed from the innards of captured modrons, driving the ship foreword with every agonised beat of their clockwork hearts.

The oar deck is a low chamber, flanked by the ribs of the ship and filled with puddles of Styx-water and the complicated mechanics that move the oars in unison. The only entrance to the rear chamber is located here, a locked and warded iron door.

Passengers & Crew

The Second Chance's crew is made up of tough bashers from across the Planes. All have taken a dip in the Styx and have no memories of a time before the Chance. They are named and trained by their comrades and their sense of unity and esprit d’corps is high. The crew may be largely self taught, but sailing the Styx breeds fast learners and the crew are more than competent boatmen as well as warriors. There are no official ranks or other heirs and graces among the Company of the Unknown. They live a communal, equal, and fraternal life. No basher is ever turned away once they've taken a dip in the Styx, so the crew is an ecclectic mix to say the least.

Unless it is hosting a particular event (or providing transport to one), the passengers of the Second Chance are usually just as varied a bunch, a mix of races and motives who for various reasons prefer a good ship between them and the Styx, not just a raft and some 'loth’s good will. The Chance has quite a few regular customers too: As well as merchants escorting their goods and pilgrims off to see their dark and evil Powers, several factions, sects, and guilds have toured the Lower Planes aboard the ship.

Ueue Matka

The highest profile factioneer currently aboard is Ueue Matka, an ebony-skinned barbarian who serves the Lord of the Smoking Mirror (pl/male human Barb12/CG). Ueue is the epitome of the ‘honourable savage’ - courageous, honest, and wise. He wears a bronze breastplate, a cloak of Coatl feathers, and leopardskin trousers. He fights alongside the crew in their battles, with a matched pair of barbed shortswords and an enchanted sling made from the sinews of his own grandfather. A veteran of several battles with the Company of the Unknown, Ueue is popular with the crew, who would like to see him join them full time.

Ueue is a member of the Minds Eye (and the Believers in the Source before that), and has spent some months trying to persuade Knownless to sign up with the Faction. Although the khaasta shares a lot of ideals the barbarian, he’s currently insisting that Ueue take a dip in the Styx before committing to his beliefs. He wants to see if his philosophy will hold even when the barbarian's memory is gone.

The Sanctifiers

One sect that has stuck around on the ship longer than most is a small band of balmies calling themselves the Sanctifiers. These berks think that only the Styx can wash away a body’s sins, and believe that the best way to convert an evil berk to goodness is to totally strip away his history. The Sanctifiers try endlessly to persuade any less than good berk they encounter to take a dip in the Styx, then work hard to convert them to the path of good when they emerge from the waters. Contrary to the chant, they don’t toss every berk who refuses their words back in, but they have been known to soak a body more than once if he stays unreceptive.

When not busy prosetylising or baptising, the Sanctifiers earn their keep as porters, stevedores, and deckhands. Their are currently six of them aboard, lead by a converted hobgoblin named Kwintus (pl/male hobgoblin/F6/LG) and a fallen cleric of Geshtai named Kestral (pr/male human/C3/R2/CN) who has yet to take a dip in the Styx himself.